Tips For Painting Drywall!

By David Braybrooke -

Painting drywall is a fairly specialized task but with the right equipment, tools and preparation it is one that can be achieved by nearly anyone. The following steps apply:

(1) Drywalling jobs are best done when the weather is fairly warm and not too humid. Make certain that the surface to be painted is dry, clean, and free from oil and grease. Three coats of a joint compound should be applied to the drywall, then the joints between panels need to be taped with paper or fiberglass-mesh tape. This ensures the joint gets surfaced over. Fill in any cracks or marks the same way.

(2) Wiping the dust off walls and ceilings before priming may produce a cleaner finish yet from experience, I would suggest a light sanding with fine grade sandpaper (200 grit) after the prime coat has dried. Any imperfections, raised fibers and rough chips get smoothed off with ease. Wearing goggles and a mask is a good idea when drywalling as gypsum dust can be really irritating and in some people has been known to cause breathing problems and eye infections; always dress in sensible protective clothing.

(3) Before painting get out the vacuum cleaner or hand dust out electrical boxes and take care to remove dust above doorway or window trim. As with any painting job, drop cloths should be used to protect finished floors, doors, windows, taps and any other fixtures, 1-mil plastic or “painter’s plastic” is highly recommended.

(4) Do not let the drywall sit too long after being taped and sanded as sunlight can cause the face paper of the drywall to yellow and fade looking uneven after painting. Use a good-quality latex stain-killing paint before priming to combat yellowing.

(5) Three painting techniques commonly used are to apply with a brush, a roller or by spraying. A brush is fine for cutting in around trim and for fiddly areas like corners. Rollers are great for large areas, the bigger the area to be painted the bigger the roller used should be. Roll the top coat across the direction that the primer coat was applied; this promotes evenness for a great finish. Using a sprayer is a faster technique yet the finish achieved doesn’t always look as uniform and consistent as using a paint roller. A better idea is to use a paint-sprayer followed by a second person who rolls the finish. Makes quick work!

(6) Two coats of paint should be adequate. One trick when it comes to priming drywall is to paint the first coat with a low-sheen, latex flat wall paint, tinted to match the color of the top coat. The problem with using standard ‘primers’ or ’sealers’ or even a good-quality ‘primer-sealer’ is they don’t always adequately cover taped seams and fasteners. You sometimes end up with a bit of a see-through effect which does not look good. It is never a wise idea to skip the first coat as it prepares the surface for the top coat to be applied.

(7) For the top coat, two coatings of a gloss paint (includes satin and eggshell) used for wall surfaces, leaves a finish that is easily washable and not prone to smudges and marks. Bathrooms and kitchens, heavy cleaning areas, are ideal rooms for this. A flat paint is a better option used on the ceiling. A photographing (transparent) effect will be avoided; common with gloss paints.

Take time to prepare your drywall, use good quality painting products and tools and you should end up with an even, impressive-looking finish that will last for years. Consulting a paint specialist at the hardware store before beginning any job will clear up any doubts over which products are the best ones to use. Keep in mind that some jobs may require adjustments to the steps listed in order to achieve the best painting result.

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Painting Saves Money and the Environment

By Dee L. Potter -

The biggest problems facing people today are the state economy and the state of the environment. And often it seems impossible to save your money and be good for the planet, too. Well, we can’t solve all the problems of the world by ourselves but we CAN do our part. By preserving what we have instead of replacing with new, by improving the efficiency of our home climate control and by keeping it from escaping it into the wind, a good paint job may all you need.

Yes, painting. “Painting” is the name we use for the trade of “finishing”. But it takes a whole lot more than painting to produce a quality finish. In fact, the most important part of the entire painting process is the prep work: filling and caulking. In essence, sealing your home!

Once all the cracks and holes have been filled and somewhere between priming and painting, a good painter will seal the gaps around all your doors, windows and baseboards. This not only gives you clean straight lines between wall and trim surfaces, it also eliminates air transfer in these areas between inside and out. And that means better air efficiency, better climate control and best of all, energy and cost savings for you AND the planet!

Right now, the best thing you can do is reduce waste and save money wherever you can. Painting your house may seem like a decorating luxury but in fact, it’s the cheapest way to maintain the structure and increase the value your home while paying off in energy cost savings. And in these times of economic uncertainty, go with what you can be sure of: your home is your castle and castles can be draughty. Take care of your home with a simple and cost effective paint job and it will take care of you for years to come.

DEE POTTER is a Toronto, Ontario area painting contractor who’s helped hundreds of homeowners get the most out of their properties with creative and money saving solutions to their repair and decorative challenges with his company, ColourWorks Painting. To learn more about ColourWorks painting solutions and services visit http://www.PaintByColourWorks.com

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Home Exterior Painting - Getting What You Pay For

By Violet Williams -

Everybody loves a good bargain, but for many things in life, you get what you pay for. In most cases, when someone is advertising unbelievably low prices, chances are good their service will also be delivered at a low quality.

This can also be the case with home exterior painting. When a contracted painter is advertising specials that seem too good to be true, this may very well be the case. It is unfortunate, but there are many people out there who claim to be a contracted painter but are actually just con artists waiting to rip you off. With this mind, when a contracted painter is advertising unbelievable specials, contact them with caution. It is always great to find a bargain, but you do not want to end up hiring a painter that will complete your home exterior painting at a low quality.

The way your home exterior painting looks is a reflection of you and the quality with which the job is completed determines how well the outside of your home will be protected, so it is usually best not to skimp on the quality of the home exterior painting just to save a few dollars. There are many reasonably priced painters out there that will complete your home exterior at the professional level that it deserves to be completed, so do not settle on the first painter that promised low prices and a quick finish. Take your time in selecting someone to complete the job and be sure to ask them all of the questions that come to your mind with regards to the project.

More information on College Works Painting exterior painting and College Works Painting opportunities in your area is just a click away.

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Exterior House Painting Prep 101

By Violet Williams -

The time will eventually come for the exterior of your home to undergo a serious makeover. Painting your home’s exterior is one of the less expensive ways to complete this transformation. Still, resist the urge to simply jump into this task. When it comes to painting your home, adequate preparation makes the difference between a beautiful new exterior and an all around disaster.

Your home, as it is today, is not ready for exterior house painting. Painting can get messy, so it’s important to make sure that this project doesn’t interfere with the other functions of your home. Before you start, turn off both the air conditioning condensing unit as well as any other exterior appliances. Be sure to cover any plants with a breathable canvas, so that they are not damaged by any stray paint. You may also want to remove other outside home accessories, such as shutters and light fixtures.

It is also necessary to prepare the area to be treated before exterior house painting. Any loose paint on the house must be removed, otherwise the new paint will not absorb well and the result will look fairly tacky. Loose paint can be removed by scraping and sanding or with a power blaster. Use a power blaster carefully; its strength could potentially cause damage to other areas of your home’s exterior.

Exterior house painting can be a rewarding experience if done properly. By taking the time to pre-treat your palace, you are guaranteeing a clean, professional-looking paint job that you will enjoy for years to come.

More information on College Works Painting FAQ for homeowner and [http://www.collegeworkspainting.com]College Works Painting opportunities in your area is just a click away.

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House Painting Odors - Getting Rid of the Smell

By Dee L. Potter

Homeowners, especially those with small children, often ask me how to get rid of paint odors. It’s such a big concern for some folks that they’ll ask me about potential odor control before they even book the painting estimate.

The good news is that the evolution of house paint has come a long way with low-odor and even odorless lines for some applications. The bad news is there are still so many reasons to use the smelly stuff, especially if you’re repainting an older home. Alkyd (oil-based) and shellac or alcohol primers are especially effective in sealing water damage and old oil painted surfaces to upgrade them to Latex top coats. But they’re also very smelly with potentially long-lasting vapors. Even the most common low-odor alkyd paints often used today to repaint wood work can have a lingering odor for days under the most ventilated conditions.

So how do you get rid of the smell?

I’ve just received an email from a mother asking me that very question. Her young child’s room was painted almost two weeks ago and she’s left the windows open and the fan on ever since. Still, the paint smell is strong enough that she’s concerned about letting the child sleep in the room. The painting of this room involved a lot of priming to cover the dark brown oil paint used by the previous home owner. Since the color needed to be lightened up and the surfaces converted to a far more Eco-friendly Acrylic Latex, a common top brand Alkyd primer was used to give the whole room a fresh start. And although it had “Low Odor” printed on the can, it obviously was NOT odorless. To compound matters, all the woodwork had to be finished in a leading “Low Odor” brand of Alkyd semi gloss which produced a smooth lustrous finish as well as a migraine inducing vapor.

So what can you do? Well, there a few ways you can overcome these situations beyond obvious ventilation to control, eliminate and even prevent odors from lingering.

“An ounce of prevention”…. Before there was such a thing as “low odor paint” we used to add a splash of vanilla extract to every gallon of oil paint to make it “low-odor”. It was cheap, easy to do and had no effect on the color. Now that low-odor alkyd paints are commonplace on the market, adding about a tablespoon of vanilla extract makes them virtually odorless.

Or, as in the case above, the painting is already done. It’s too late for vanilla and the smell won’t go away as quickly they’d like. What’s happening here is that the odors are being trapped in the walls while the paint cures and probably in all the fabrics and rugs in the room as well. They need something else to absorb them for good. So, here’s what I advised her to do. Cut up a few onions and place them in a couple of bowls of cold water. Put one of the bowls in the room and the other in the closet. As simple and crazy as it sounds, the onions absorb and actually eliminate the paint fumes and odors… sometimes as quickly as overnight!

I first learned this trick while creating a baby’s room about 17  years ago. I had spent about 5 weeks converting a badly crumbling and dusty old attic room into a nursery pending the baby’s birth. And as it turned out, the baby was born about two weeks early and was ready to come home just as I was finishing the project. The job required a lot of smelly primers and sealers to bury decades of neglect and water damage. As was customary in those days, I added vanilla extract to minimize the paints’ odor (and damage to my brain cells) but the smell wasn’t clearing up fast enough to bring the newborn in. The homeowner’s Nanny, who was moving into the bedroom next door (and who was also troubled by the smell) used a couple of bowls of cut onions in cold water over night and the smell was gone the next day. I couldn’t believe it!

I’ve recommended this technique ever since with great results. But it should be noted here that this example was in an empty room. In the case of a fully furnished room, as in our case above, you should consider airing out clothing, drapery, rugs or anything else which might be trapping the odors and give them a shot or two of Febreeze to do the trick nowadays.

Now sometimes, there are extreme cases where odors are simply not an option. Some people are highly allergic to the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) contained in paints and the tints used to color them. Some can become quite ill with even short term inhalation of the fumes. In these cases, you have to resort to the whole gamut of tricks:

Before you paint, empty the room completely to make sure there is nothing that will trap the odors.

Open all the windows before you open the paint cans and keep them open throughout the entire painting process.

Add vanilla extract to your Alkyd, Alcohol or Shellac based paints. (Latex paints don’t usually need this step as they’re relatively low-odor to begin with).

Place several bowls of onions around the room (as above) while you paint to absorb the fumes as they escape.

When the painting is finished, seal and remove all paint cans, bag your drop sheets in plastic before taking them out through the rest of the house (or throw them out of the window if possible) to keep from spreading the fumes they’ve trapped indoors.

Refresh your supply of onions in water as the old ones will have had their fill of vapors by the time your finished the painting.

Keep the windows open and wait until the paint has fully dried and the odors have gone before you replace the furniture and other belongings.

Of course, these tips are offered in connection with interior painting but you should also try adding some vanilla to your paint when painting the exterior in Alkyd coatings as well. It saves the painter a lot headaches… literally. But whether inside or out,  these simple ideas combined with some good old fashioned common sense should produce a fresh new look with clean, breathable air you can live with.

Happy painting!

DEE POTTER is a Toronto, Ontario area painting contractor who’s helped hundreds of homeowners get the most out of their properties with creative and money saving solutions to their repair and decorative challenges with his company, ColourWorks Painting. To learn more about ColourWorks painting solutions and services visit http://www.PaintByColourWorks.com

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House Painting - Picking a Color

By Vickie Faria

If asked what their favorite color is, most people can produce an answer. However, when most people are asked if they would paint their house with this color, the answer is not always yes. It takes a very brave person, for example, to paint their home with their favorite color if that color is pink or yellow, or another bold color.

There are many ways to pick a color for your house painting, including references other homes that have been painted with a color that catches your eye or turning elsewhere for inspiration.

Most neighborhoods are filled with homeowners who choose to stick with gray and brown tones for their house painting. These tones can be very attractive, especially when paired with the natural landscape surrounding the home. Gray and brown tones tend to be a safer choice for exterior home painting, because you probably won’t have to deal with neighbors being disgruntled at having to look at your brown exterior home painting every day. Other safe choices include blue tones, which tend to be a choice for someone looking for a calming color. Green is also a fairly common house painting color and can pair well with the home’s landscaping.

Other people choose to coordinate their home’s exterior home painting with their inside painting colors. This can be a fun and creative way to choose a color for your house painting and can impress visitors to your home with the thoughtfulness of your choice.

No matter how you go about choosing a color for your house painting, it is always a good idea to choose one that you know you will be satisfied with until the home needs repainting again.

More information on house painting and College Works Painting in your area is just a click away.

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House Painting - Neighbor Problems

By Violet Williams -

If you are someone that likes to input creativity in your projects and break away from the norm, you have likely encountered obstacles along the way. Many people expect others to conform to the norm and therefore try to inhibit the actions of others that sway too far from what is considered the norm in their area.

These conflicts can even arise with a house painting. Many home owners that paint their homes in bold colors are faced with less than happy neighbors who feel that the house painting color is a distraction.

If your neighborhood does not have a home owners association with rules regarding exterior home painting colors, that probably means that you are free to paint your home whatever exterior home painting color you would like. Despite the protests of some neighbors, at the end of the day, it is your home so you can choose whichever house painting color that makes you happy. Of course, you probably do not like to have conflicts with your neighbors because after all, you do live next to them and likely see them on a regular basis so you will probably want to weight the pros and cons before choosing an exterior home painting color that could cause neighborly protests. When weighing the positives and negatives in a house painting color, try discussing the options with a neighbor if you think they may dislike what you have chosen. This is completely up to you however, because it is ultimately your choice, just as it is their choice on which color to choose for their house painting.

More information on house painting costs and College Works Painting in your area is just a click away.

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House Painting - Keeping Costs Down

By Vickie Faria

In today’s world, many home owners are concerned with keeping their costs down. It is no secret that owning a home can become expensive very quickly when things start going wrong with the home or projects are all in need of completion at once.

Some home owners choose to put off their house painting because they are afraid that the project will cost a lot and they do not want to deal with the expense. This can be a big mistake however, because the damage that they are risking to their home can be much more expensive in the long run than having a house painting completed.

When is comes to house painting, it is better to choose quality over cost to save yourself more trouble and money over the long term. It is better to choose a high quality contracted painter over one that is promising low costs because you will get what you pay for. As with most things in life, if the deal seems too good to be true, chances are likely that it is. A quality contracted painter will be up front with you on the prices that they charge and their reasons for charging what they do. A professional contracted painter will use high quality paint that will last longer, meaning you will not have to have your house painting completed as often. The high quality paint will also protect your home better from environmental conditions than low quality paint. If a painter that you are unfamiliar with is promising you extremely low prices and a speedy process, some red flags should be going off in your head. You should become even more wary when they do not seem to have a legitimate contract or can not completely explain the preparation methods and painting methods that they will be using on your house painting.

More information on house painting safety tips and College Works Painting in your area is just a click away.

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Exterior House Painting Can Be Hard Work

By Vickie Faria

When it comes to painting the exterior of a house, many people are not up to the task and do not possess the appropriate skill and experience to accomplish the job in a satisfactory manner. It takes hard work and dedication to finish the project in a timely fashion leaving a good finished product. It may even be a good idea to hire a professional to accomplish this task for you so that you an rest easy that your house is in good, capable hands.

The first thing one should remember when taking on an exterior house painting job is that it is tough work. One’s hand and wrist may begin to cramp and the work itself can be exhausting and seem never-ending. A tiring effort may not be enough in the end to leave a job well-done. In fact, it can be frustrating for the amateur homeowner trying to paint their house all by themselves. Do-overs and redoes can be frustrating and cause a great deal of stress to the homeowner as they try their best and fail. This is why hiring a professional when tackling an exterior house painting project is a good idea.

Not only can the homeowner rest easy knowing that their home is in capable and skilled hands, but they should be happy that they do not have to deal with the complicated task themselves. Exterior house painting can be a huge headache for anybody trying to take on the project themselves. Finding a trustworthy individual to perform the project for you should not be thought of as a copout, but as a wise decision that benefits your home.

More information on College Works Painting home improvement and CollegeWorks Painting opportunities in your area is just a click away.

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House Painting - Correcting Problems

By Vickie Faria

Buying a home can be a wonderful investment and will likely be one of the largest investments that you will make in your lifetime. If you are buying a home that needs some work done on the outside, you will have to decide if you want to do the work yourself or hire someone to complete it for you.

Many problems can exist with the house painting of a home that you buy. Unless you are well versed in the variety of problems that can exist on an exterior home painting and how to properly correct them, you may want to hire a contracted painter to do the work for you. A contracted painter will be able to thoroughly inspect your house painting to determine if any problems exist. Some problems with your exterior home painting, such as mildew growth, can sometimes be hard to spot. Mildew tends to grow in the shaded, moist parts of your house painting, so it can take some searching to find it. It is a problem that should not be left untreated and a painter can quickly resolve the issue once it has been located. Mildew growth is not the only problem that can occur with your house painting, so unless you are familiar with all of the problems, you are probably better off hiring a painter.

Once all preexisting house painting problems with your home have been addressed, your contracted painter can then move on to apply the new exterior home painting. A new house painting can do wonders to the appearance of the outside of your home, making it look new again.

More information on College Works Painting safety tips and CollegeWorks Painting home repair in your area is just a click away.

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